The Prophecy of the First Flame
"The Sacred Words shall Reveal that which is Hidden, and Announce the Coming of the Flame that will Dance at the End of the World..." As Chaos splits Order, the Fall of the Just This line predicts Oblivion's follow-up attempt to unmake the world in the wake of the Scourge and the crumbling of the Court of Order. A Flame Touched by Flame, a Hearth turned to Dust The second line tells of Cinder's burning and resultant scarring by fire, and the destruction of her small village of Hythe at the hands of Oblivion's forces. The Lost will Awaken, a Stay of the Night The third line speaks of the awakening of the 1000th eldjotnar from its ritual slumber, and of its significance, triggering the birth of the reincarnated Flame Aeon. Delivered from Darkness, but Shackled by Light The final line tells of Vaeliang's doomed attempt to claim Sindy's soul, and her coming into (literal) possession of the cursed ring of Akoman, avatar of the Fallen. Sindy is the Reincarnation of Ember Allude subtly to this throughout her storyline: Ember Rose '= Sindy Kindle Sindy's nickname, due to her red hair, has been '"Cinder" since she was very young. A Cinder is an ember that has been extinguished. Her last name is Kindle, and her middle name Moyeti. Kindle a cinder and you get an Ember, '''and a moiety is '''one half of a whole. Rose = While travelling through Sandoria, Cinder finds a village and is attacked by zombies, but finds protection within a ring of roses that grow in the centre of the town. This is the same ring that echoed in her dreams recurrently throughout her youth. While she stands within the circle, the chasing monsters are destroyed and encounters Ember's spirit. As the flames rage, she feels something stir within her. This ring of roses emerged there at the behest of Alizan Drow when Ember Rose was killed and fell there, as a spiritual anchor which held whatever remained of her ghost there. When Seth struck down Ember, he was in possession of the Flame Aeon, and it touched her departing soul when he held her in his last moments of sanity - she was the last pure soul to contact the Aeon. This is why when the 1000th eldjotnar awoke, the Aeon did not return to Steval as expected, but instead reincarnated in both halves of Ember's soul - half which was bound to the rose ring, and half which became alive in the body of Sindy Moiety Kindle. Sindy feels the effects of having but half a soul, though she does not know why she is different: * When her village is attacked and massacred by wights, one of the beasts sees her but does not attempt to steal her soul - legends state that the hollow ones seek to steal the humanity of those whose souls are still whole, for their own souls have all but been sucked from them by their mistress. * Sindy was born totally colourblind, i.e. without the capacity to see ought but black, white and the greys in between. This is incredibly unusual, but the condition lifts when she unites with her second half. * When she is attacked by Mordak the kyasid druid, he remarks briefly that she her aura is weak and she is clearly close to death anyway - he is perceiving her having half a soul as her being ill and crippled. * When she is burned across one side of her face during the battle at the ogre cairns, she barely notices any pain from it, but assumes that in the panic she was numbed by chaos. Interpretations of the Prophecy The Order of Ennead's Interpretation (Mid-Resolution) Steval and Green Qrurrawk are of the belief that when the last eldjotnar awakens in 1000 cycles' time, the Aeon will reincarnate within the Blademaster's body, as he was the last pure soul to serve as a vessel for the Flame. The line-by-line interpretation of the two goes as follows: As Chaos splits Order, the Fall of the Just Oblivion's servants attack the world, and the Ennead Order has been destroyed. The two see this line as an obvious reference to the events surrounding the Ritual of One Thousand Tongues - the Shadow Scourge. Flame touched by Flame, a Hearth turned to Dust Steval holds that the "Flame touched by Flame" is a reference to the Red Temple, which is also known as the "Fire in the East" by the dorogar, and which was carved from the basaltic overflow of the first great eruption which created the volcano upon which it stands in modern times. The "Hearth turned to Dust" would be the great column of fire which has its base in the Lake of Fire which lies deep below the heart of the temple. After the Ritual was completed and the Flame Aeon ripped from the world, this column died to ashes, and the lake went cold and dead with the slumbering of the eldjotnar. The Last to Awaken, a Stay of the Night When the last of the 1000 fire giants awakes from its sleep, the darkness which now clouds the ruined world shall be lifted once more with the return of the Aeon. Delivered from Darkness, but Shacked by Light Although the Ritual of One Thousand Tongues has saved the world from what they believed would have been total destruction ("Delivered from Darkness"), the followers of Immol and the One True God must now solemnly carry out the fulfilment of the Prophecy in repentance for their past follies which allowed the Scourge to occur in the first place ("Shackled by Light"). With this as their framework, Green and Steval, being the last survivors of the Order of Ennead, take it upon themselves to make ready for the return of the Flame Aeon. They believe that in the coming cycles, situations in the world will reach desperate levels of peril, leading to a second threat to reality itself. At this time, when the one-thousandth cycle approaches, the meaning of the Prophecy will be revealed in full and the flame within the Red Temple will alight anew. As it is common knowledge amongst elder magi that the Aeons return to the last pure soul that beheld them if removed from Creation, Steval thinks that the Flame Aeon will reincarnate within himself. He also believes that servants of the Dark will now this, and seek to hunt him down and destroy him. Thus, he departs from the Red Temple, vowing to travel alone and in secret for the next 1000 cycles, until the Aeon makes its presence know within him once more. In his absence, Green is to oversee the safety of the ancient temple on the mountain. Hob's Interpretation and the Burning Legion's (Low-Resolution) As Chaos Splits Order, the Fall of the Just Hob and the greatest dorogar philosophers interpret the first line in much the same way as do Steval and Green Qrurrawk, however they put emphasis upon the need for order in the world and the lack of their god's "justice" within it - in response they now seek to establish dorogar rule throughout the world by use of authoritarian tyranny of other species and widespread subjugation of the "fallen" peoples. Flame touched by Flame, a Hearth turned to Dust The dorogars agree that this line is in reference to the going out of the sacred flame in the Red Temple. The Last to Awaken, a Stay of the Night According to many accounts, the dorogar are the youngest species to arrive within the world, and as such they see themselves as the last species to awaken in flesh. To their minds, this line is in reference not only to the slumbering of the eldjotnar of the Lake of Fire, but also to their unique purpose on the world - to once and for all fight back the Dark by any means necessary. In this light they see themselves as a superior creation to all other species, excepting those who have adopted the faiths of either Niitoh or Immol, their God-King's primordial parents. Delivered from Darkness, but Shackled by Light While the peoples of the world have been saved from Annihilation for now, "Shackled by Light" for the dorogar peoples means that it was over-concern with tolerance and peaceful existence that allowed the enemies of Creation to amass in the shadows. In their crusade, the Legion vow to follow only the edicts of the Flame, and not concern themselves with the petty dictates of the dead Sun. Alizan Drow's True Interpretation (High-Resolution) This interpretation builds upon the (mostly) correct but broad interpretation of Steval and Green, developing a more in-depth, precise map of events. As Chaos splits Order, the Fall of the Just Flame Touched by Flame, a Hearth Turned to Dust Ember was touched by half of the Flame Aeon when Seth embraced her dying body. She was his home before his turn to the Dark, and her body rotted back to the soil (dust) from which it came. In turn, Sindy's home was literally burned down to ashes, and during her journey, she was burned across the cheek by flaming debris. The Last to Awaken, a Stay of the Night Delivered from Darkness, but Shackled by Light Saved from the wights, Mordak and most importantly the dragon Vaeliang, lastly by donning the cursed ring of Icharus Akoman. This ring, and the half-angel spirit within it, becomes a shackle which seeks her undoing.